


Three hazelnuts for Jaskier

by EllieStormfound



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Cinderella - Freeform, Crack, Fluff and Crack, M/M, THIS IS JUST FUN, They Are Idiots, Three Gifts for Cinderella, Three Wishes for Cinderella, Tři oříšky pro Popelku, and i love them, drei haselnüsse für aschenbrödel - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27998394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieStormfound/pseuds/EllieStormfound
Summary: In which Geralt is a prince and meets a mysterious stranger in the forest :)
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 18
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, does anyone know the movie Three Wishes/Gifts for Cinderella (Tři oříšky pro Popelku), the czech/east german one? My german friends will know it under the name of Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel
> 
> I kind of wrote this geraskier cinderelly au crack fic thing in a fever dream… it’s inspired by the first part of the movie and if the fever hits me again I might write the rest of it too :D
> 
> CW: Brief talk of dead parents (this IS cinderella) and a not very nice stepmother
> 
> Edit: I changed the chapter count from 3 down to 2, because I won't be writing the last part anytime soon, maybe next christmas :D just so no one is waiting for a third chapter that is not coming. But I think it is still an enjoyable story even with just two chapters. Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and clicked the kudos button here! <3

_ Our protagonist was a young man from a well-respected family. But like a lot of good stories, this does not start on a happy note.  _

_ His mother had died when the boy was very young, so it was fortunate that he had a very devoted father who loved him deeply and taught him everything he needed to know.  _

_ But this is still too happy for the beginning of this story, so the father died as well a few winters ago. And to make it a bit more interesting, the young man had a stepmother - not exactly evil, but stern and cold. _

_ With this dark premise, our story begins... _

Jaskier - as our protagonist was called - had grown up sleeping in soft down feather beds, wearing silks and doing nothing more demanding than playing the lute and riding his horse, but his stepmother would have none of it. She demoted him to be nothing more than a kitchen hand. 

But even though he missed his father dearly, Jaskier rather enjoyed the company of the cook and the maid and the stable master a lot and preferred them over his stepmother any day. So he made the best out of it. 

One day the old stablemaster had brought him a small branch with three hazelnuts from a ride to the town and told Jaskier with a wink that they were magical. Each hazelnut would grant him a wish when he needed it the most, so he should keep them safe. 

\-------------

_ But hold on, dear reader, there was another protagonist that I have to introduce to you - another young man, but he was of noble blood - in fact the noblest blood in the country. Prince Geralt, who would some day take over the throne of his father, King Vesemir.  _

But for now he was enjoying his freedom with his two best friends, Eskel and Lambert. They were supposed to be at the side of the king and queen on their yearly tour around the country, visiting all the noble and otherwise important households - and they had been till an hour ago when they had snuck away.

They had let themselves fall behind slowly and when they were far enough away, kicked their horses in the sides and rode away towards the wintery woods.

\----------

Unbeknownst to them our other protagonist had a similar idea. The household had been in uproar because it was the day the king and queen would visit their humble homestead. And even though Jaskier wanted nothing more than to see the royal family in all of their colorful glory, he knew he was not allowed. So he snuck out to the stable, saddled a horse and rode for the woods.

\----------

Geralt and his companions unmounted at the edge of the forest and when Geralt spied a fawn nibbling on a bit of tired looking grass that had broken through the snow blanket, he had quieted his companions with hushes and gestures. 

Slowly, so he wouldn’t alert the shy woodland creature, the prince placed an arrow in his crossbow and took aim. 

But, in the moment he wanted to release the string and shoot the arrow, a snowball hit him square in the face with such force that his red hat tumbled off.

Eskel and Lambert rushed to his side and burst out laughing. Lambert said, “I always knew you were shit at shooting.”

Eskel picked up Prince Geralt’s hat and put it back on his head, brushing snowflakes from his shoulders. 

“There, did you see that,” Geralt said pointing to the trees as he saw a movement in the corner of his eyes. He was sure there was...someone running away between the trees with an echo of laughter in their wake.

“Come on,” he called to Eskel and Lambert, “let’s follow them.”

And they did. They ran through the snowy forest, jumping over boulders, ducking under branches and always a bit too slow to catch up to their prey. It was a wild chase that the mysterious snowball thrower led them on, criss-crossing through the wood.

They stopped to catch their breath when they lost sight of the person. But a moment later Eskel gestured to get Geralt’s and Lambert’s attention.

“Psst, I think they’re over there. Let’s split up to corner them, you go left and you right.”

Slowly they snuck up on the person and finally cornered him. 

A young man around their age in simple brown clothes, curly hair and a twinkle in his blue eyes stood with his back pressed against a tree, eying the three royal gentlemen.

“Oh, nothing more?” Lambert said in a mocking tone as he took in the young man with a raised eyebrow. His two companions laughed.

“Just a boy, like a chicken without feathers,” Eskel said.

Geralt walked over, still laughing and when he was close enough, Jaskier had enough and pushed the prince’s ridiculous red hat down over his face. This stopped the laughter.

Geralt huffed indignantly and adjusted his hat, took a few steps back and said, “now look at that, he wants to scuffle with us.”

Lambert looked Jaskier up and down once more and said with a smirk, “maybe he wants to get his ass beaten.”

“Or,” Eskel said, “he wants to get tossed into the shrubbery.”

“Oh ho ho ho,” the young man laughed and added quickly, “you have to wait till the crows come home to catch me, you brats” turned on his heels and ran off once more. The three royal men laughed and ran after him in another chase. But Jaskier knew the woods better than them and this time he could escape. 

After half an hour of a fruitless chase Geralt, Lambert and Eskel stopped. 

“He deserves a good spanking for this,” Lambert said, panting. 

But the prince laughed and said, “or a medal for giving us the run-around.”

He wasn’t mad, it was the most fun he had had in a long time but he would have liked to know the young man’s name.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jaskier shows off his skills with a crossbow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: A bird is shot in a hunt

_ Welcome back, my dear readers and gather around as we continue our story. _

It had been an awful day. His stepmother had been in a mood and Jaskier took the first opportunity to escape to the hayloft of the stable. 

It was the place he could hide away when everything got a bit too much and where he had stowed away a few precious items reminding him of his parents, so his stepmother could not take them from him. Among his small treasures were the three hazelnuts. 

It calmed him to hold them in his hands, to feel their smooth surfaces. 

“I wish I could escape to the woods once more,” he murmured to himself. The day he had met the prince in the woods, his stepmother had caught him on his way back. With a stern face she had ordered everyone to watch him closely and to make sure that he would not leave again without her permission.

Deep in thought Jaskier must have gripped one of the nuts too tightly. It came loose from the small branch and rolled off his hand.

“Oh no,” he said in a quiet voice as he watched the hazelnut fall to the floor as if in slow-motion and crack open. Carefully he laid the other nuts to the side and when he knelt down to look for the cracked one, he found instead a set of neatly folded clothes.

He furrowed his brows as he surveyed them. It looked like a hunter’s outfit. 

There was a feathered green felt hat, a tight fitting olive green jacket with a warm fur collar that was fastened around the waist with an elegant belt where he could attached the sheath of his hunting knife, brown leather gloves, sturdy but fashionable leather boots with fur lining and even a crossbow with a quiver full of arrows. 

Jaskier smiled. Maybe Vincek had been right and the hazelnuts were magical. 

Without further ado he put on the outfit, that fit like it had been made for him. And wouldn’t it be a shame to let it gather dust up in the hayloft?

Even though everyone was supposed to play lookout for his stepmother, he managed to sneak out once more thanks to more than one friendly turned head.

\--------------------

What Jaskier didn’t know was that prince Geralt with his trusted companions Eskel and Lambert was once more on a hunt in the same forest. 

The prince and his royal companions had stopped at the edge of the forest as they spied a dove in flight. Eskel claimed the first shot but missed, Lambert the second and missed as well. 

When it was Prince Geralt’s turn the bird was already too high in the sky and he let his crossbow sink down slowly, frowning at his missed chance. This morning the king had promised a jeweled ring to the person, who would shoot the first bird of the day.

He whipped his head to the left when suddenly an arrow shot up into the sky, hitting the bird square in the chest. 

“What…” he began, turning to his companions, who were still at his side, “who…” but was interrupted by the dead bird hitting the ground directly in front of him, the arrow piercing it right through the chest.

“Who did that?” he asked, leaning down to pick up the bird. He pulled the arrow out, Lambert taking the bird from his hands and Geralt asked in a loud voice, holding up the arrow, “who’s arrow is this?” 

He eyed the trees to his left to make out any person hiding there when suddenly the arrow was knocked out of his hand - not knocked out, shot out, by another arrow! 

Geralt huffed in surprise and Eskel leaned down to pick up the arrows. The three men examined them, one arrow piercing another. 

“Your highness,” Lambert said a moment later, pointing to a figure who was walking towards them with a confident stride. He looked like a hunter in a green feathered hat and green jacket with a crossbow on his back. One corner of his mouth was pulled up in a smirk.

“It was me,” the stranger said in a melodic voice and bowed low, “I beg your pardon.”

Prince Geralt eyed him closely and asked, “who are you?”

But the stranger just winked at him. 

Geralt walked over and took the crossbow out of the stranger’s hands. After a short examination he gave it back and said, “but it is just an ordinary crossbow! How did you manage that?”

But the stranger stayed silent, still grinning like a Cheshire cat. 

“Geralt, your father’s ring,” Eskel said from behind him, “the king promised the ring to the person who could shoot the first bird.” He walked over and handed a bejeweled ring to his prince. 

Geralt smiled at the stranger and grabbed for his hand, but the stranger withdrew it.

“The ring is yours,” Geralt said and held out his hand for the stranger’s once more. This time Jaskier placed his gloved hand in Geralt’s and the prince slid the ring on.

It was a heavy thing, this ring and probably worth more than Jaskier could imagine.

“Maybe you will show us more of your...talent,” Geralt said with a smirk as he saw the awe in the stranger’s eyes.

Jaskier looked up at him once more and said with a wink, “but don’t get jealous.” 

Lambert smirked and bumped his elbow into Geralt’s side. He pointed to the top of a nearby tree and said, “can you shoot down these pine cones?”

Lambert knew it was an impossible task and chuckled. 

But Jaskier just looked Lambert over with a raised eyebrow and said, “even a child could do that.”

He took an arrow out of his quiver and put it in the crossbow. Then he made a few steps forward, lifted the bow to his face and closed one eye so he could take better aim. 

Geralt, Lambert and Eskel crowded behind him, to have a better look. When he had the crossbow in the perfect position, Jaskier fired the arrow and it hit one of the pine cones. 

He could hear the three royals release the breaths they had been holding. Lambert ran to where the cone had fallen down and retrieved it. The arrow pierced it right in the middle. Eskel and Geralt looked at the cone Lambert held up when they heard the whicker of a horse behind them.

Geralt whirled around but could only catch a glimpse of the stranger riding away through the trees. 

“Get my horse,” he called to his companions and thus began his merry chase through the wintery woods. He followed the flashes of the rider in green on his white horse through the trees but lost him after a while. 

So he stopped and called, “hey, where are you?” 

But instead of an answer, a bunch of snow fell down from the tree - directly on his head. 

“Hey,” he called as he shook his head before he craned his neck to look up. 

There was...someone in the tree?

“Hey,” Geralt called once more, but the young man looking down at him was not the mysterious archer. On one of the top branches sat a man in plain brown clothes, brown hair dishevelled. 

“Did an archer come this way?” Prince Geralt called up to the man.

The man grinned and asked, “why do you ask?”

Geralt huffed. “So he did come by here?”

The man in the tree laughed his melodic laugh.

“No matter where you look, in the whole wood there is only a gosling and a chicken without feathers.”

Geralt shook his head at the silliness and called, “come down here.” 

The young man laughed again and said, “you can come up here.” 

The prince narrowed his eyes in confusion. He was not used to disobedience but he was intrigued and so he dismounted his steed. But the tree was tall and there were no branches he could reach.

So he called once more, “I tell you again to come down here!”

But the young man replied with laughter in his voice, “and I tell you again to come up here.”

Geralt put his hands on the tree, still looking up to the strange young man with the piercing blue eyes.

“Do we know each other from somewhere?” he asked a moment later. Now that he had time to look more closely, the face of the stranger did seem strangely familiar. 

“Mh…” the young man said, “you will have to remind me from where we could possibly know each other.”

“Here in the forest, you rascal,” Geralt called. Now he remembered. It was the young man from a few days ago who had thrown a snowball at him.

“This time you will not get away,” he said with a smirk.

He slowly walked around the tree when Eskel and Lambert finally arrived.

“Have you found the archer?” Lambert called but Geralt shook his head and said, “we have to ask him,” and pointed up the tree.

“Who?” Lambert asked. Geralt looked up and groaned in frustration. The stranger had tricked him once more. There was no trace of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment and let me know if you like it!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment and let me know if you like it and if I should write more of this!


End file.
